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Since 1949 and the founding of the People's Republic, China has been involved in more than one territorial dispute with its neighbours. Currently the most unstable and dangerous dispute is the one over the Paracel and Spratly islands in the South China Sea. With their potentially rich and accessible petroleum resources, these islands have become the new arena of conflict for the 1970s and 1980s, China having already fought a war with South Vietnam over the Paracel Islands. This book, based on a wealth of primary materials in the Chinese language, is the first to make a thorough and overall investigation of China's policy towards these islands. It deals with the battle for the Paracels, the dispute with Vietnam, the disputes with the Philippines and Malaysia, and the relationship between the territorial disputes and China's maritime claims in the South China Sea.
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CHINA’S POLICY TOWARDS TERRITORIAL DISPUTES
Since 1949 and the founding of the People’s Republic, China’s boundaries have been relatively ill-defined and territorial disputes have provided a potent source of conflict in China’s relations with its neighbours. The Sino-Soviet and Sino-Indian disputes of the 1950s and the 1960s ended in stalemate, but a new arena of conflict has developed in the 1970s and 1980s: the Paracel and Spratly Islands, with their potentially rich and accessible petroleum resources. This book, based on a wealth of primary materials in the Chinese language, is the first to make a thorough and overall investigation of China’s policy towards these islands. It discusses the battle against South Vietnam for the Paracels in 1974; the war with Vietnam over the Spratly Islands in 1987; the conflicts with the Philippines and Malaysia; and the relationship between the territorial dispute and China’s maritime claims in the South China Sea. The book also discusses the influence of China’s policy towards territorial disputes in general. The Author: Chi-kin Lo is Managing Editor of the Ming Pao Daily News, Hong Kong.
International Politics in Asia Series Edited by Michael Leifer, London School of Economics China and the Arms Trade Ann Gilks and Gerald Segal Soviet Foreign Policy in Southeast Asia Leszek Buszynski ASEAN and the Security of South-East Asia Michael Leifer
CHINA’S POLICY TOWARDS TERRITORIAL DISPUTES The Case of the South China Sea Islands
CHI-KIN LO
ROUTLEDGE London and New York
First published 1989 by Routledge 11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE 29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001 This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2005. “To purchase your own copy of this or any of Taylor & Francis or Routledge’s collection of thousands of eBooks please go to www.eBookstore.tandf.co.uk.” © 1989 Chi-kin Lo All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilized in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Lo, Chi-kin 1958– China’s policy towards territorial disputes: the case of the South China Sea islands.—(Politics in Asia series). 1. South China Sea. Islands. Territorial claims. Disputes. Policies of Chinese government. China. Government I. Title II. Series 341.4´2 ISBN 0-203-16866-6 Master e-book ISBN
ISBN 0-203-26390-1 (Adobe eReader Format) ISBN 0-415-00927-8 (Print Edition) Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data Lo, Chi-kin. China’s policy towards territorial disputes: the case of the South China Sea Islands/Chi-kin Lo. p.cm.—(Politics in Asia series) Based on the author’s thesis (Ph.D.—London School of Economics and Political Science, 1986) Includes index. Bibliography: p. ISBN 0-41